Colossians Lesson 17 Week 2

So, last week we got down to, we were talking about question 7, did we get as far as 7? We talked about the Lord's Prayer, we talked about how is love the perfect bond of unity, did we talk about that? We're still at 6? Well, that's where my arrow is. Six is pretty quick and pretty easy. And you Baptists need to really listen to this. In the so-called Lord's Prayer, the one praying is told to forgive any sin against himself as a condition on his own forgiveness. Does that command still hold for the believer? Show of hands, how many think yeah it does? How many think no it doesn't? Oh, there's some chickens in here that don't raise their hand either way. So, you know that the word forgiving is a verb form of the word grace. It refers to unconditional forgiveness.

So when Christ did his work on the cross, Did He leave your forgiveness up to you doing something? Would He do that? No, He wouldn't. So, forgiveness is based solely upon Christ and His work, paving the way for God to put away sins. So, when you look at Matthew 6, 9-13, which is where the prayer is, verse 11 says, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our, most people like to say trespasses, I think the word is more apt, debts, as we also forgive our debtors. So if I don't forgive What's that with sin against you? And you say, well, you know, you need to ask for forgiveness. And I say, no, sorry, I'm not going to do that. Is my sin forgiven? What do you think? Don't mumble. Yes. How come? How come? Because we live under grace. Because we live under grace. Yeah. So, I'll give you another example.

Let's say that I'm convicted of the spirit and I'm kind of running through my sins, all 300 of them, and I forget one. I'm doing the one John one nine thing. And I forget one. Am I still going to get hammered for the one I forgot? No. In all of them.

Yeah, my sins have been paid for. So why do I forgive you then? Why would you forgive me? Out of love. That's not a good reason. Because he forgave us first. Yeah, because he already forgave me. So where does that leave you as a believer? There's never a time that I don't forgive because I'm already forgiven. Do you see how that works? So there's never, you know, there's none of this, yeah, but I'm not going to forgive, I'll forgive you, but I'm not going to forget. You ever heard that? No, that means I'm not forgiven. So I'm never in a position as a believer to not forgive you no matter what it is. And the reason is, is because Christ died for me and my sins. Oh yeah, and yours too, if you happen to be a believer. So how can I not, if I'm in Christ, not forgive?

I can't. It makes no sense. Alright with that? You okay with that? And it's not conditioned on whether I'm a forgiving person or not. My forgiveness or my debts don't go away My guilt doesn't go away because of anything I do. It's gone because of what Christ did. Verse 14, but above all things put on love which is the bond of perfection. My question in seven is, how is love the bond of unity or perfection? How is it that way? And the next question is, why is love the one binding element? So the first question is, how is love the perfect bond of unity?

So Darby says, peace is the seal and bond and should rule our lives. Say that again? He says peace is the seal and bond and should rule our lives. Well, we're talking about love, not peace. I know, but he says it's the bond. But Darby's wrong. Why is love the glue, the bond? God is love. God is love. Okay, that's where you start, right? Is it that love benefits, seeks to benefit the other person? Always. See, we're talking agape love here. So agape love always finds great value in the object loved, whether they deserve it or not, okay?

So you can be the biggest slug in the world, but if you recognize that in an environment, say like Holly Hills, if the love of Christ is abounding around here, you can still be a slug and still be loved. That's pretty cool. Why? Because if you love me, it doesn't have anything to do with what I'm doing. Do you see that?

One of the sort of light bulbs that went on when we were studying the grace class that Chester McCauley talked about, I really like this, when he went through those verses that said, you shouldn't cause your brother to stumble, but he said, if you offend him, he's offended because he decided to be offended. Causing him to stumble is my problem. But if he's offended, it's because he decided to be offended. And when he comes to me and says, well, I'm offended by what you say, who did I offend?

This person in Christ or his old man? Sure, sure. So could I draw a conclusion from there that the new man in Christ can't be offended? Roy says no. I explain. Don't shake your head, I'm not calling you. Can the new man in Christ be offended? He can be persecuted. Okay, yeah, that's alright. But offended in the sense that I take personal remembrance of what you said, what you're doing. Well, you're also recognizing that that may be the same as a homicide.

Was the Lord Jesus in Pontius Pilate's court offended by what they were doing to him? No. Was he? No. He didn't tell Pilate, you know, I'm kind of offended the fact that you're beating me up. And I'm really going to be offended when you put me on the cross. Was he offended? No. No, he wasn't. How about when he was in the temple throwing out the money changers? Were the money changers offended? No, was Jesus offended? Oh, was Jesus offended?

That's a good example. What do you think? When Jesus went into the temple and he gets angry and he throws the money changers out the door, was he offended? What do you think? I think he was. What was he offended about? The sin. The fact that they were using his father's house as a store. He didn't like that. Because that wasn't what it was for. Wednesday night we were talking about the fact that the Jews abhor idols, yet they traded in them. They bought and sold them. I love it. We're not going to have idols around, but I've got a few if you want to buy some.

Just to continue that on, as an example, politically, as a believer, aren't you offended by some of the things that go on politically? Oh, that's a good question. Well, I'm not going to ask any of the Hemingway's equity. Yeah. Oh, and Monique's in Florida.

Are you offended by some of the stuff that goes on politically? Why would you be? Because it's totally against anything that the Lord had set up in his word. My niece is in, she landed an hour ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina. So she's going to go buy a newspaper and read it and she's going to be really offended by what the government is doing down there, right? She wouldn't be, why not? Not her government, not her home. Is the Congress, is Washington D.C. your home? Denver, Colorado your home? Where's your home? So why are you offended?

And by the way, for the Hemingway clan. Yes, I'm not offended. You fully understand that whoever is in office is put there by God. Yeah, that's right. So it doesn't matter. You can get as my football announcer. You get all excited about it, but it means nothing. Yeah. Yeah. being offended versus being mad.

I think the issue was that this is his father's house and it's a holy place. And it was designed as a place where God could meet his people. And they could deal with the sin issue there. And it was designed specifically for certain purposes from God's side of the ledger. Well, the Jews were using it for other things. And because they were, it seems to me that the reason he was upset was because it is his father's house. And it's where the Shekinah glory dwelt. Well, I guess that's what I'm trying to understand. As you said, to be defended is the old man. Yeah, and the Lord Jesus doesn't have an old man who is offended.

So let me ask you this, if I'm riding down the road with, well I can't pick any of you guys, and one of you guys starts taking the Lord's name in vain, does that offend me? I think it does. It offends the heck out of me. I think the word offend is tough because we can see it in an old man situation or a signature situation and we can see ourselves being offended. situations where maybe politically things don't align with our understanding of truth and so forth.

So the word has to change with who we are as a person. There is a sense of justice. God is just. And so there is a right and there is a wrong. And so when we perceive a wrong, being spoken in your example of the Lord's in vain or in a political attitude or going off about their worldview and how yours is so ridiculous. It's not necessarily that you are offended in the same way that you were in the same nature, but there is an offense to the Lord in terms of truth that you take on because you have wholly embrace that truth and you know that it stands in contrast to it.

And so your desire is in love to enlighten them to the truth because that's the ultimate example of love is to bring them to a place where they understand truth and can have life because they dwell in death at the moment if they're a non-believer. Yeah, see I have a tendency to not do that. Well we all do. In other words if there are non-believers and they're going off, my attitude is, this is probably not the time to give them the gospel. No. And love doesn't necessarily express itself with the gospel message at that point in time, but it does set what is wrong in front of them in terms of what the truth is.

So you may say, well, you know, You come to this viewpoint in such a way, and because of my final authority in the scripture, I see truth in this way. So we have a difference of opinion, or not even opinion, but we have a different view of truth, and the final authority of that truth is not different.

So we do disagree, but I'm not going to be mad at you personally. I'm going to be... setting the contrast against what is true and what is not true for the purposes of loving them. And I think you hit on something there, which goes to yours, is that you love the sinner, you hate the sin. Right. And that really helps. It's the falsehood that's the problem, right?

Yeah. Could it be that it's something like offending the Holy Spirit that's within you instead of just your own knowledge and understanding of God? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Couldn't it be that it's just the Holy Spirit within you that you feel is offended? Yeah.

You know, I'm pretty persuaded that as the intimacy with Christ grows in a believer, there's a fellowship there, and that when somebody attacks him, you take it personally. It's like if somebody attacks your kids. It's like, wow, there was a time in my life before I was a believer that I had the trashiest mouth in the world. Now though, if somebody takes the Lord's name in vain, it really does get me.

It's like, oh, wait a minute. I'm not personally offended because you did it. I'm offended because somebody's taking a cheap shot at my Lord. I think that I call this the OMG generation. The way people just use the Lord's name in vain, I think, but they use it for excitement or whatever, you know. But I like to hear the Antiques Roadshow first, and then everything, you know. Yeah, please do.

So when you have that sense of being offended, and let's say you don't take it personal and you do set the truth in front of the one who is not enlightened to the truth, that whole episode or experience is designed by the Lord to teach you something.

You need that feeling to understand something about yourself. You know, that's a good point. That's a great point. Because if something like that happens and it doesn't set you back a little bit... I think it goes back to the main point, which has helped me 20 years. A guy told me about that.

It's still your choice to be offended. And that's really, I think, a key. It's your choice. You can do anything to me, but it's still my choice to be offended. And there are reasonable things to be offended against the Lord, or if you're doing something to my kids, but it's still my choice to be offended. And I think we choose to be offended a lot more times than we should. And, you know, if somebody does something, I'm offended. Well, I think as you have the intimacy with Christ, a lot of those offenses are diminished because it's either, I don't know, being offended is a selfish thing.

A lot of times it is. And most of the time, there aren't righteous things to be done. And I go to one of the ones, it doesn't exclude it, but in James, but everyone must know, and I always think about this, a lot of times don't do it, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. It doesn't say there's not a time to be angry, but it also says, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

So if it's just a personal offense, you know, you don't like the color of my shirt, you know, does that, the anger or the offense The color of your shirt is a different thing than that I'm offended because we've legislated abortion into our society and that people that murder babies are legally given permission to do that with no consequences. Yet next to that is the righteousness of God. which his righteousness causes him to deal with the consequences of sin. And there's going to come a time when the bill was going to be paid.

I never had been able, even before I was a believer, to understand how someone could come, a rational person with the minimal of education, could come to the conclusion that abortion was okay. It never made any sense to me. It just didn't. You're murdering babies.

That's what you're doing. And I don't care what kind of holy water you put on it, or what kind of legislation you put on it, that's what it is. The Bible does say somewhere to be angry, but said not. So it seems to give you permission. And slow to anger. It doesn't say never, it's just slow. Think about, don't react right away.

I was going to say I came from Boulder, which I hate. Oh, man. And I have so many friends who don't believe in God and who are pro-choice and like an Aquinas club. And they've been a president of it all the time. And I think it just when Facebook dialogues go on. It's because it just breaks my heart that they aren't probably going to be in heaven with the Lord Jesus. I mean, God only knows. But when Obama will say, you know, God bless Planned Parenthood, it just makes me shudder.

Yeah, yeah. You know, vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. I will repay. Yeah, it's coming. Someday. Just a thought along those lines. I don't know if this is ever, you know, it's not a part of my life, but it's just a thought along these lines. If somebody offends you by saying something about your wife or our Savior, a response from the Lord might be a truth, such as, well, what do you know about Jesus?

You know, why are you so angry at him? Can you explain what you just said? To get them to think through what they just said. I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here that from the Lord, He, before Pilate said, you couldn't do anything unless I talk. He didn't respond most of the way. But he gave him a truth to think about.

And the same thing would be true with us in opposition to being offended. seek a way to help the person that is offending us. I really think when you have situations like that, that each situation is different and you can't have a, you know, oh let's see, what do I do in that situation? Oh yeah, I know what to do. It's not like that. Every circumstance requires a response that's a response of the Lord Jesus. And it's based on the fact that I have an intimate walk with him and he's going to direct me to say or not say something.

And most of the time in my life it's shut your mouth and walk away. And sometimes it's not, you know, sometimes it isn't. I guess I'm always looking to see if the Spirit of God is working in that person and that we're not entering into some sort of intellectual argumentation in which I'm going to be more persuasive than him. I'll walk away from that kind of thing because that isn't going to persuade anybody about your side of this. It's the Spirit of God that persuades a man about Christ. And I think we have the capacity and the privilege to see that going on or not. you know, when you're in a circumstance. Here's what I put down for the answer. Christ is looked at as the head of everything in this epistle. This has to do with the perfect bond of unity, love being met. He's viewed as the ideal in all that is good and lovely, which God looks either for or from us.

There's more in love than simple kindness and forgiveness. It goes way beyond that. Love always brings in God, always, being the activity of His nature. His nature morally is light, but the energy of its love, that goes out in goodness to others. See, the interesting thing that makes it, I think, the bond of unity, is that agape love is always reaching out.

It's not passive, it's aggressive. You see that? It's always reaching out to somebody else or someone else. You know, when you sit and talk to... well, I'm not going to go there because it's coming up in the verses. Jim gets to do it. But if love is the glue, it isn't passive. Love is aggressive. Agape love is very aggressive. And it goes out from you. So imagine everybody in this room functioning the next 10 minutes with aggressive agape love. It would be cool, wouldn't it? It would be really cool. I'll take as much of that as I can get. I was just going to make a tie up.

John 17, 22, 23 kind of goes into that. I'll just read that for some context. It says, the glory which you have given me, Christ speaking to the Father, have given me I've given to them that they may be alone just as we are one. I in them and you in me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. It goes on to talk about his desire to be with him. And so at the heart of Us showing love in hopes of unity is this desire that they will see the Lord in the same way that we see Him in glory and that unity will be eternal for that person. And you know, it's interesting. I think it's more than desire. I mean, I think what he's talking about is reality. This is the way it is. The reason that we're one is so that the world would know that the Father sent the Lord Jesus.

How would they know? How would the world know if it wasn't for you? They wouldn't know. How would they know? I'm serious. You think about it. You take all the Christians and you move them to Argentina. How would the United States know that the Father sent the Son? They wouldn't know. Because you're the ones that carry around Christ and you're united to Him and you're the ones that manifest Him and demonstrate who He is. That's how the world knows. Otherwise they wouldn't know.

Does that make sense? I like that verse, I don't know if we've mentioned it here, but love-seek is not its own. It's not easily provoked when you talk about unity. From 1 Corinthians 13? I don't know where it is. I always loved the Living Bible in 1 Corinthians 13 where it says that love hardly ever notices when someone else does it wrong. I really like that line.

Okay, so why is love the one binding element? Why wouldn't it be something other than that? Why wouldn't it be a combination of things? Why wouldn't it be intellectual apprehension of spiritual facts? Why is it the one binding element? The answer is it's the essential core of who God is. And all of us are in Christ. All of us share the resurrected life of Christ. So we have built in to our position in Christ this agape love that always finds extremely high value in the object love. Because that's what God does.

That's what his character is. And so it isn't that... It would naturally, spiritually naturally, is that a good way to say it? for the glue and the unifying factor of the body of Christ to be agape, wouldn't it? What else could it be? That we all agree politically or doctrinally?

No, it's love. It's love. We have this love because God gave it to us. I would say... It's his type of love, and he's the only one who had it from the beginning. And he shares it with us, accepted us into his family, and we get to operate in it, and use it. Okay, that's okay. I would say this, that we, because we are in Christ, it's his love that's manifested through us. And it's all by grace. And it's all by grace.

Yeah, gee, it wouldn't fit any other way. Now here, one of the ways to look at this is to look at the opposite. Love always binds together, but what does self do? It withdraws, I think. It always divides. It always divides. It always finds difficulty. It always separates. It's always moving in that direction.

Where love has a tendency to remove difficulties, self fosters them. Question. When we talk about love, we're not talking about the word love. We're talking about God's character. That's right. And the reason I bring it up is that the word love is also used by believers loving darkness. That's right. Agape in John 4 or wherever it is. 3.19. So imagine that.

Before you were believers you placed extremely high value on darkness and sin. When it says, you know you pass from death to life because you love the brethren, that seems like a... You know you pass from death to life because you love the brethren? Yeah. Is that what that verse says? I don't know. I think so. You know that you pass from death to life when you love the brethren. Oh, okay. Yeah, I believe that's for sure. Yeah. And here we're talking when we love one another, it's one another at the same time.

Yeah, you know, when you're somebody like me that came to the Lord at 35, early on you're surprised you love Christians. You really are, because you never loved anybody before. You only loved them for what they could do for you, you know? I love you, but here's my list. And they said, well, I love you back, but here's my list.

Okay, moving on. Nine, we were called to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. How do we do that? How do we let it rule? Now, notice a couple of things. It's the peace of God. What's that mean? Because in Romans chapter 5, there's a distinction between peace with God and the peace of God. What's the peace of God mean? What is His peace all about?

Well, explain what it is. Well, it refers to the fact that we have the peace because we've been reconciled. We have the peace because we have been reconciled. But what is it? If I said what is the peace of God, what is it? Freedom from worry, part of it. How about this idea?

The peace of God is that perfect calm in which he rests in all the circumstances in the world and into which he brings the believer who looks up to him committing all circumstances in his hands without allowance of will or anxiety. God's satisfied. He's not anxious about anything. He's at rest. You know why? Because the Lord Jesus took care of it. You see that? I want to personalize that he's at rest about the evil. Personally. Personally. That's right. And that's really important to understand.

So the problem that I have as a believer with this kind of understanding is that it sort of eliminates my, how do I say this, I no longer have the right to yield to trouble. Understand what I just said? I don't have I'm not entitled to not have the peace of God ruling in my heart. I'm not entitled to be anxious. Do you see that? I am entitled to have the peace of God rule in my heart. I don't have license to be upset.

I've been thinking about this in reference to the verse that says, be not afraid of wars and rumors of wars and what's going on in the news these days and the threat that maybe a whole lot of it will start happening over here. And how do I deal with that? Do I worry about that all the time? get all uptight and try to be active in some way. How do I rest in the Lord?

Isn't it interesting here, he says, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. You let it happen because you're entitled to it. And oh, by the way, you're not entitled to not let the peace of God rule in your heart. You're not entitled to that. You don't get to do that. It's kind of interesting because we're always looking for a way of escape, I think, and we always use our mind and think that we can handle whatever it is, rather than trusting in the Word of God and resting in His provision for me. I think this goes back to your real estate.

Location, location, location. Where are we? If we go back to the beginning of Chapter 3, where are we? We're seated at the right hand of God. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Alfred E. Newman. Why do you worry? Why do you worry? If you really know, and this comes back to what we're going to discuss hopefully next quarter, is faith. Do you believe that? Do you believe where you're at?

Then does it matter about all the wars, all the just sequestered in our room not doing anything. But if we're in Christ, that's the peace of Christ because we're in him. And is he worried about any of this stuff? He's in control of it all. We've seen that in Colossians. He's the one who holds all things together. Is there something we need to be Our old man is the one who's...

Right there, when I am, here comes the horde of thought process that I'm worried about, or potentially could be worried about. What do I do right then? Right then. What do I do about that? Understand where it comes from. My mind is filled with... I've been literally having panic attacks lately. And in my prayers, I apologize to God. I say, I know I'm not supposed to be having this. Please help this situation. And it's not all that diary. It has to do with buying a car. I hear you. I hear you. Oh, you have anxiety about buying a car? Well, so do I. There's no more anxious situation in the world than buying a car.

I really apologize about it, because I know it's his behavior for nothing but in everything. I was just going to say this verse is for you right now. I mean, this is the word that applies to your situation. I mean, you said, what do you do when these horror thoughts come? Let, and that word let is imperative, so it's not a allow, it is a you must have the peace of Christ's rule in your heart. So as those thoughts...

I know, and that's what I'm saying, I'm apologizing. Well, even more than an apology, it's a truth. It's a truth that you have, so it's an opportunity for you to actually say, This anxiety and fear is not mine, but your peace is. And it's your job, Lord, to live that peace out in my life right now. I mean, I can't do that. That is something I have to completely entrust you to do. And He will. That's what He promises. There you go. There's the answer right there. You have to trust Him to do what He says He's going to do, or what He's already done.

That's the crux, and that's the hard part, because You know, we want, it's, Lord I believe you, fix it now, rather than I trust you because of what you've told me. This verse is a good one, you know, and it's, how do I say this? If in a circumstance you trust the Lord, does that mean that the anxiety of the old man is going to somehow go on vacation? It's still going to be doing its thing. So the issue is, one is to know the truth of the word, the second part is to believe it. And so when you have a circumstance like this, what do you think God's doing?

I think he's proven to you that he's right. Because your anxiety and your apologizing to him, in the end game, he's going to show you, I've been right all along. And if you just trusted me, not critically he's not going to say it, but if you trust me, the circumstances, there's nothing outside of the purview of my peace, I got it handled. Specifically for you. I've already taken care of it. I did just want to add that we all deal with that.

So we all find ourselves dealing with that apology. remind myself of the same truth, so just know that I struggle with that too. But when I get into this kind of game of apologizing, when we have verse John 1-9, it's not an apology, it's a confession of what is true, so calling sin what it is. So in this case, there's a sin of anxiety, but if we dwell on apology, I mean, who are we thinking about? If we're stuck in apologies, who's our focus? Ourselves.

But when we have faith in the truth of what God said and trust Him to do whatever that is through us, then it removes that focus from me having to feel sorry for what I did, which truthfully there's no feelings involved here. It's a matter of what is true and what is not true. You can still feel anxious and Trust the Lord to bring a feeling of peace in your life, but your feelings are not what rule your mind. Those are just the outward expressions of things that you believe, correct?

You know, we have the train analogy. How's it going? Faith in the facts, like the train on the tracks. So the feelings will follow as your faith in the facts grows clearer in your mind. And sometimes that means I've got to go back and just look at what the Lord has promised me.

It's not clear in my mind. It's gotten fuzzy. You know, and the Lord probably brought it up because it was getting fuzzy. He brought it up because it was getting fuzzy and he wanted you to be clear about it. Let me read a paragraph out of Hungry Heart from back in October about a circumstance like this.

He says, Will you not now bow before your Father and thank Him regardless of your feeling? It may take a day or a month. I don't know how long. But I do know that when any child of God will believe and begin to express that faith in thanksgiving day by day, thanking him for the fact that one may not yet have experienced, the Holy Spirit will lead that one into a glorious personal relation of his identification with the Lord Jesus in his death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

So I like the part where You're in a dilemma. Somebody asked me last week, well, what would you do if you were me? And I said to him, I would go get along with the Word, and I would just sit there with the Lord and just lay it out to Him. And say, I trust you, and I'm going to sit here. I'm not going anywhere so fast. I trust you because you said to me on Sunday, Let the peace of Christ rule in my heart. Okay? Right. Okay? Right. Well, I hope this is helpful to other people, too. Even though Wanda thinks that I don't ever have any problems, I do, you know, really, that sheet that I laid out, and this is what I think we're going to teach at least the first quarter next time.

All of our battles are battles of faith. Do we believe what he's told us? And I brought it up when we were in Colossians 1, but these are the things. Now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant peace in every circumstance. Do you believe that?

And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. give you, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

And for me, when I start getting anxious or I get something, think of the choice that I've made. I always do this when I run into this. I'm personally, I'm not going to choose to be anxious and angry or whatever. Or am I going to choose peace that he's promised me? It doesn't make sense for me to be anxious because he's promised me peace.

Which do I believe in? And who is giving me that anxiousness? And the Lord takes me through these things to demonstrate my dependence on him. That's what it comes down to. Do I believe the things he's told me? And he brings me through these challenges, I think, to see if I understand these. Let me tell you one other thing right here. This circumstance comes up in your life.

The Spirit of God has it well in hand. And He's the one that's going to persuade you through the Word. And you know, so that's why that person who wrote that paragraph said, let's thank God. Because there isn't a circumstance that comes up that he doesn't intend to use to conform you and to settle you down in his peace.

Yeah, I wonder sometimes when we're discussing these things, how much of the way we, how much of the way a woman expresses the way she prays, or the way she relates to the Lord about something. How much of that is because she's a woman versus how much a man expresses and compartmentalizes. That is what women do. Where as a woman may believe, and I think we do believe the same things that the men believe, but we relate differently verbally. from our feelings and okay I am sorry that I did a certain thing or thought a certain thing because I know better and isn't that in a way agreeing with the Lord that that thing was a sin?

I would agree with everything you just said except I don't know where that is in the Bible. That men and women are that different. I mean, we both have sin natures, and we both have the life of the resurrected Christ, and as we've studied, the new man in Christ is neither male or female. So your feelings don't matter in Christ. No, but they color who I am. No, no they don't. They color who you are in Adam. They don't color who you are in Christ.

So I don't get to be a female. No, you don't. No, you don't. You don't get to be a female in eternity. No, I mean in prayer. Remember, I used to have arguments with your husband. He said, I'm not going to be a girl in eternity. I said, you might be. No, but when I go to him in prayer, I'm still a girl. Who is? I am. You won't be in eternity. No, but right now I am. And if I feel like I'm sorry that I got really mad at him, You know, I know better. The Lord's in control of him. I'm not going to argue with a woman. You get to do it. I decided that I'm going to be out of town. No, you're not. Let me read some stuff and we'll finish up this question.

Our epistle speaks of a peace more intimate. It is the peace that Christ has now, the peace he ever had when he was here below. Thus Christ himself met all difficulties, all of them. Oh, and the gender difficulties too, as he saw all perfectly, resting in perfect peace about everything, and so should we. No sense of evil without, no sense of weakness among his own, disturbs his perfect peace about anything.

One last thing, the word rule here, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. The word rule here is a word like we would get umpire from. Somebody else made the, it's a term of somebody made the decision, you're safe or you're out. And the last part is, notice where the peace is to rule. Where is it to rule?

In your emotions? In your mind? Where? In your heart. Which is a comprehensive term, it's the total inner life. It's the essence of who you are. So it can refer to the mind, it can refer to the emotions, but it's here. The peace of Christ rules here. So no matter what your mind tells you or your emotions tell you, the peace is here in Christ.

Well, and I know it's the end, and that's always when I want to talk. As you know. I know. If you move from your house where you've lived for 40-something years into a place where there are 200 other people, I'm not sure. I don't have the strength, I don't think. Cool. That's awesome. So you thank him. Did he allow that? The great thing is to be put in a position where you don't have the strength. So you have to trust him. It's come to that.

Father, how we thank you for your word. How we thank you for I guess I would say the benefits that we as your sons can derive from the finished and accomplished work of your son on the cross and that we are positioned in the Lord Jesus and we can rest and we do have peace. And we thank you for that and we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.